Knights of Gotham
by A.H.Faleaux
Summary: Post-Dark Knight with lots of spoilers. The Joker is still at large, and the hunt for Batman is still on. The White Knight is gone, so who's going to rise to the task of making sure there are at least two knights in Gotham City?


Knights of Gotham

Prologue

"Mr.E, the Man Of Mystery"

" Salvatore Maroni was found dead today, hanging upside-down in front of City Hall. While it was initially thought to be the work of Batman as an example of his new campaign: several cards that fell onto the street pointed in the direction of The Joker, Gotham's other resident murderer" Bruce Wayne read aloud from behind a newspaper, sitting in the leather interior of an older but still luxurious car, with Alfred sitting in front driving. "At least now that Wayne Manor is rebuilt, you'll have basically a fortress to work your operations from, and escape too when the police give chase" Bruce looked out of his window and smiled. Wayne Manor's front gates opened, and the mansion itself looked as if it had still been standing during his stay in the penthouse. "Like it was never burnt down" Alfred opened the passenger door and Bruce stepped out, breathing in the familiar air. "Good to be home again" A sigh of satisfaction came from Alfred, then a smile. "Not quite Master Wayne, as instructed an out-of-town contractor came in when the bulk of it was finished, during nights, and improved the security around the southeastern corner" Mr. Wayne started walking towards the newly restored manor and Alfred followed closely behind. "Excellent, did the contractor buy our cover story?" Alfred nodded. "Not sure, because he didn't ask much questions, gave him the specifications and all he had to say was 'Tell Mr. Wayne what he needs this bunker for, will be a riddle even to me'. " Bruce laughed and opened the front doors. He didn't need to look over the entire manor to ensure nothing was out of place, there would be plenty of time later to be nostalgic; right now his concern was with what he knew was out of place from the original design.

"Lucius recommended him, said if I wanted the best structural security, he was the man to go see" Bruce and Alfred walked into the southeast study room, where the only thing that was out place, was a grandfather clock between two bookshelves. "Later on, when he had finished his job and came to collect the other half of his pay from Lucius-" Bruce walked in front of the clock, looking at it's ticking face that showed it was 2:32 p.m."He said the bunker was now so secure, even he who built the entrances, wouldn't know how to get in if he wanted too" Alfred looked somewhat confused. "So how are we supposed to get in?" Bruce felt around the clock, then opened it and pulled the pendulum, which made the hands stop dead and the glass over the face pop open. "Easy enough in concept Alfred, he made all the mechanisms that make up the locks, but made it so that I could set the combinations for those locks myself" He moved the hour and minute hands so that the clock was set to 10:47 p.m.

The grandfather clock slowly moved aside to reveal a small elevator waiting, so small it looked like it could only fit one person at a time. "Go on down Master Wayne, I'll stay up here and test the locks on this clock before joining." Bruce stepped into the elevator and said to Alfred before the clock moved back into place and the elevator started going down: "We should remember that name Alfred, I think in the future we could really use this Edward Nygma"

0000

"Edward, my boy, so glad to see you again" Lucius Fox stood from his desk and greeted a young man just entering his office. He had dark red hair that suggested he might have Irish ancestry, and facial features that also hinted at Native American ancestry. "You've done so much for me Lucius, least I can do" The two men shook hands and Lucius took his seat behind the desk, Edward one of the chairs on the other side. "Nice suit, I see you're indulging yourself with the money Mr. Wayne paid you" Edward looked down at his attire, which was almost the same as any other worn by the corporate types in the building, except each piece of the attire was a different shade of green right down to the shoes. "Only a little bit of what was left after I did the budget for my new company" Lucius chuckled and put his hands together. "Speaking of your company Edward, what do you say to assimilating into Wayne Enterprises?" Edward shook his head. "Generous offer, Lucius, but that's a little too much, E.Nygma Entertainment is small right now" He put his hands up to illustrate an object roughly the size of a basketball. "But I think, what with the atmosphere around Gotham City these days, the people would like the entrancing games I have planned for them, and therefore there's alot of potential here for E.Nygma Entertainment to experience some...how do you say?" Edward paused a couple seconds, then smiled and stretched his arms out. "Passive expansion, why I expect if all this goes on, E. Nygma entertainment could become a fair rival for Wayne Enterprises in little over two years."

"The size of your ego, never ceases to amaze me Edward" Lucius stated with a kind smile. "That's the point of entertainment Lucius, keep the people amazed" Edward sat back in his chair with a smug smile. "Well, if we can't get you to work for us full-time, how do you feel about occasionally installing security measures for us? Heck we'll pay you in equipment so you can cut out the middle man, if you want to" Edward clapped his hands together. "I take it Mr.Wayne was satisfied with the custom security measures I installed for him?" Lucius shrugged. "Hasn't gotten back to me just yet, but I trust he will be satisfied and will want your services in the future" Again Edward clapped his hands and smiled. "Sure, if Mr. Wayne has another room full of dirty little secrets he wants to remain secret, I'll be more than happy to make the fancy lock for his cabinet of leather pants and whips"Lucius couldn't hold back a hearty laugh. "Leather pants?Whips? Come now Edward, even behind closed doors a man of Mr. Wayne's caliber is not about to be caught with just leather pants and whips"

0000

"Please identify or be restrained" The cold robotic voice told Alfred as soon as he stepped off the elevator. "Alfred Pennyworth" He stated and the voice replied. "Speech Recognition saved, welcome Alfred Pennyworth" He looked around himself. The walls of the cave had been untouched, but there was now a slightly raised metal walkway leading from the elevator landing to four main areas: The large gazebo-like structure at the center of the cave that housed the advanced computers, the other structure that now held the Batsuit and Bruce's arsenal of crime-fighting weapons, a large raised platform for their research and experiments, and finally a platform on which sat the new Batmobile(the twin of the one Bruce had lost to the Joker). "How are the locks Alfred?" Asked Bruce from the computer room, listening to the news and looking over maps of Gotham City.

"Set and secure Master Wayne, Mr. Nygma left no stone unturned when he set them up" Alfred looked at the elevator shaft then looked around. "How do we get out? I didn't see a call back button for the elevator" Bruce gestured to a metal door on the other side of the armory building. "The clock is only an entrance and that door is only an exit, where it leads I'm not sure, but I trust it's to a place in the mansion where visitors aren't about to stumble onto" Alfred looked at the door, then at Bruce. "How can you be so sure Master Wayne?" Bruce shrugged and stood up. "It's how I would have made things. Now according to the news coverage, the Joker's severed the head of the mob, which means the rest of the body is going to be going crazy until it grows a new one." Bruce stood and walked to the Armory, Alfred calling after him. "I'll ready the medical supplies"

It wasn't a request, both men knew that it was best to have all the stitches and medications set out and ready. Because these days when Batman went out and did what he did best, he wasn't just dodging the mob's bullets anymore, he was dodging those of the police and the jaws of their dogs.

0000

"Been great talking shop Lucius" Edward stood from his seat and looked out of the large windows, into the orange-yellow glow of a sun getting ready to set. "But I best be getting back home before night" Lucius nodded and sat back. "Can't blame you Edward, we with the suits, ties and titles may run this city during the day-" Edward politely finished his sentence. "-But when the sun sets, it's one freak dressed as a bat and another in a cheap purple suit that run things" He sighed and shook head. "Nights in Gotham belong to those of unsound minds". "Is that from a book, or did you just make that up by yourself?" Asked Lucius with a warm smile to break the semi-serious mood. Edward helped break it by putting up his hands to symbolize scales. "Eh, half and half Lucius, I'll admit it this time. Ever read _A Ghost In The Rain_?" An honest shake of the head from Lucius Fox and Edward clapped his hands. "Highly recommended, I'll lend you my copy, it's not a book you'll find in every bookstore, but you ought to be able to" Yet another clap of the hands, and Edward waved at Lucius while he exited his office. "See you later then Mr. Fox"

Edward Nygma took the elevator down to the ground floor of the Wayne Enterprises building, then went to the street out in front and hailed a taxi cab. "Southern Terrace Apartments, please" He told the cab driver and sat back. With all the money he had left over, he could afford a nice car and personal driver easily. But those were unneccessary things, he could live with taking public transportation, wasn't as bad as others in other cities he had lived in. While the cab driver made his way through the late afternoon and early evening traffic, Edward looked out the window and did an inventory of what was in his apartment. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a large living room and a large kitchen at the top of an apartment complex. He (and occasionally his girlfriend Layla) occupied the smaller of the two bedroom, with the larger being occupied by a desktop computer filled with all his original schematics and formulas, around that CD's that held everything that couldn't fit on the computer's hard drive. He had alot of puzzle and game schematics at the new E. Nygma Entertainment office across the city, but the bulk of it was in that room, he preferred to keep what was basically his life's work close to him at night.

"Did you say you're going to Southern Terrace Apartments?"The cab driver's question brought Edward out of his head. "Yes, is there a problem?" The cab driver nodded and pointed ahead. Edward leaned forward as much as he could, puzzled at what he was supposed to see. Then he caught it, and he felt his heart sink. An advertising blimp that had formerly bore the logo of E.Nygma Enterainment and an ad for it's first line of puzzle games, had red paint on it that told all who read: "In celebration of my victory over organized crime today I would like to warn you all that Southern Terrace Apartments is soon to be rubble"

**_To Be Continued..._**

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman character and/or themes contained within this work of fanfiction, and aside from a sense of accomplishment, I am not receiving any financial gain from the writing of it.

Well, how did you like my first foray out of the Anime/Manga genre? I have seen the Dark Knight 3 times so far, and it occured to me to write a fanfic about it when I heard Christopher Nolan may not be back to direct a third film. So based on a few internet rumors about who might be in a third, who might play them and how could they potentially fit: I wrote this.

So I'm leaving it up to you fine people. If you think I got off on a fairly good start and would like for me to continue, please for the love of all that is both good and naugthy, review this and say so.

Shall I not receive at least ten reviews by Friday, I will presume this has been looked over and has to be put aside for other(better) things you might not get to see on here, for an undetermined amount of time.

Thank you for reading,

_A.H. Faleaux_


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